Never Grow Up
by Ira Lea
Summary: Before, she'd been Daddy's Little Girl. Now, as she grew up, he sometimes felt that she wasn't the same anymore. She was no longer Little Eep. She was. . . DIFFERENT Eep. But, standing on the edge of Tomorrow, saying goodbye, he realized that he was wrong. Deep down, she'd never grown up. (inspired by a song) Warnings for fluff abounding. You should watch the movie before reading.


_**AN: I do this thing where i put my iPod on shuffle and write a short oneshot for every song that comes up. Category and genre depend on song. This was inspired by 'Never Grow Up' by Taylor Swift.**_

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**My Little Girl  
**By: C.L.

"I dun' wanna be in th' dahk."

Ugga looked up at Grug uncertainly. Usually, it was him that dealt with five-year-old Eep when she was in one of her moods—she'd only ever listen to him. Grug halted in his rolling of the boulder and looked back, a little taken aback at his daughter's exclamation.

Eep was staring at him with wide, scared green eyes, clutching her teddy bear tightly to her chest.

Alarmed at seeing her so distressed, he immediately abandoned the door and crossed the cave in one bound, kneeling in front of her and placing a huge, comforting hand on her small shoulder. "You're not going to be in the dark," he assured her, wiping at her tears with a gentle, dirt-stained thumb. "That's why I'm closing the Cave, Eep—to keep the scary dark out. You'll be safe in here."

Eep sniffed and hugged her bear tighter, if that was possible. "B-but I can' see th' sun," she protested weakly, eyes getting even wider. "I dun' _like_ the dahk, Daddy."

Grug bit his lip, trying to figure out how to explain to his little girl how the dark Outside was different than the dark Inside—how Outside, it was scary and dangerous, and Inside, it was cozy and _safe_, which was most important.

Finally, he settled on a story. Eep loved stories.

He settled himself down and picked her up gently, placing her in his lap. "You wanna hear a story?" he asked, sure he already knew the answer.

To his surprise, Eep shook her head and buried her face in his shirt.

"Why not?" he asked, a little put out.

"Th' awways en' th' _same_," she whined. "I dun' wanna die."

And thus Grug was faced with a problem. Eep didn't want a story ending with "and she/he _died._ Yep, just like that." Unfortunately, those were really the only stories in his repertoire.

He took a deep breath. He didn't like things that were different…

But for his little girl, maybe he could try to change the story.

_Just a little_, mind you. Just a little. He didn't think he could stomach anything too outlandish—oh the horror!

"Well, this won't end that way," he managed to force out. "This will have a different ending."

Shocked, Ugga and Gran looked up from their individual business, eyes wide with alarm. A little unwillingly, but unable to completely banish her curiosity completely, Eep, too, raised her head, peering at her father from under her mass of curly red hair. "Dif'ren'?" she asked, just to make sure.

"Yep," her father confirmed. "Different."

She raised her head a little higher, staring at him, waiting for her story.

"A long time ago," he began, "there was a pretty little tiger. Now, this little tiger loved the sun, and the light, and did not like the dark Cave where she lived, even though her father told her that it was safe. So, one night, she decided not to go to the Cave at night, and stayed Outside instead of Inside."

His wife gasped, and his mother-in-law shook her head in disapproval, but Eep looked up at him, eyes shining as if imagining it.

"But Outside," he continued, "it was dark, too, and it wasn't a nice, _safe _dark, like in the Cave. It was _scary _dark, and it was _dangerous_ dark, where there were beasts and _dangers _and—and _new_ things."

Gran and Ugga gasped and Ugga smacked him, frowning disapprovingly as if he had just raised the movie rating from 'G' to 'R' in front of their little, impressionable child.

"She _almost _died," Grug admitted, stressing the word "_almost_". "But, when her father called her, she listened, and she went back to the Cave before any of the scary dangers could catch her. And do you know what?"

"Wha'?" Eep asked, eyes huge with wonder as she awaited the ending of the story.

"She _lived_," Grug told her, shuddering slightly as he changed the ending but managing to slap on a smile. "Because she listened to her father, and she stayed _away_ from the Outside and the scary dark. And she learned to like the s_afe_ dark instead, Inside, and she was forever happy, obeying her father's rules."

Little Eep considered the ending. Sniffing slightly, she looked up again at her father. "She liv'd'?"

"Yes."

"Am I gonna liv' th'n, too?"

"If you stay in here when the sun goes down," Grug warned her. "But—tell you what? When that sun comes up again, you can go out again. And it'll be there, every day, waiting for you."

She blinked up at him, tears now long dry, though their remnants, pale tracks streaking down her otherwise dirt-smudged cheeks, remained. "Promise?" she asked.

"Promise," he confirmed.

It took a moment, but, hesitantly, she smiled up at him. He smiled back, and hugged her close.

When he rolled the boulder over the door that night, Little Eep did not protest, and snuggled close to him through the many long nights ahead, content in his promise and the assurance that the sun would be waiting when she woke.

oOo

Over the years, Eep grew up and become more defiant and…_dramatic_. She hated the Cave and its pressing, stifling darkness, and ignored her father's warning about the Outside. Sometimes, he felt like she'd changed, and his little girl was gone.

But that moment, as they said goodbye, and as he held her close and finally had a name for shielding her and wrapping his arms around him (a "_hug_"), he realized that she'd never left. She could grow up all she wanted, and she could complain as much as she liked, but deep down, she would always be his little girl, his Little Eep.

Maybe not so deep down now. As she looked up at him, green eyes huge and shining with tears, he remembered his daughter from long ago, back then only yea high. And he realized, too, that Guy was right. She did love him, just as much as he loved her—they both just forgot to say it sometimes.

He hugged her tighter, and savored the feeling—knowing that he might not (_would_ not) ever feel it again.

Then it was time to go. She protested—she didn't want to leave him!—but he would not let her stay, in danger—it wasn't _safe_.

And though maybe the Outside darkness wasn't considered too dangerous anymore, _safe _was still a priority, and it would _not_ be safe where he was going.

She didn't get the chance to say it—not then. And neither knew that, very soon, she would. Both thought it was forever.

But Grug held that last image of her in his heart. She was—and _always_ would be—his little girl.

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**_AN: For those of you who didn't get it (since I didn't state it directly) the second part took place when Grug was (xxspoiler alert!xx) throwing the rest of them over the gorge to 'Tomorrow' and sure that he wasn't going to follow. I thought I made that clear, but it's possible that some might not have gotten it (it happens)._**

**_This is very fluffy. I'm proud of it, especially after posting 'Better Left Unsaid' several minutes ago._**


End file.
